


Nude

by 7Threes



Series: Jigsaw Falling Into Place [4]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi-Centric, Mental Heath Issues, Self-Hatred, Self-Loathing, Slow Burn, Songfic, Swearing, Time-Loop AU, Trippy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 05:09:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17892098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/7Threes/pseuds/7Threes
Summary: Part 4 of many to a series attributed under the name “Jigsaw Falling Into Place”, not to be confused with the work that will occur later on. Check the collection description for more details on the series as a whole.Akira is from Inaba AU, Time-Loop AU, Major Canon Divergence. Updates to the series biweekly.Akechi has to do yet another job for that... man.





	Nude

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so fukookin sorry for the late update I'm drowning in sleep deprivation and work.

The way his Metaverse outfit wrapped around him satisfied him, he felt like it was his second skin; carapace-like that spindled and spired crookedly. 

 

_ It’s just like me _ , he thought,  _ In the manner that Gregor Samsa undergoes metamorphosis into vermin, as have I. But this is the true nature of my heart, so it is akin to Cerpin Taxt. This other world is my ESP. _

 

The way he’d skulk through the dreaded landscapes of the inner mind made him feel power above those who couldn’t see him, and it elated him to tear apart the Shadows of one’s mind. He found them hideous blights that plagued minds and drove people to do terrible things.

 

_ He bitterly laughed then, as he was aware that he has become one of them - as Vism _

_ und Cygnus is to the Owls that he so detested. _

 

The power to make others go mad drew out something dark in him, some sick part of himself enjoyed and admired his work while the insane Shadow of the mind would writhe and seethe in agony and madness. He’d flash a wicked grin and his eyes would bulge as he watched the ugliness of a person turn to ash or destroy itself, and then the part of him who was Akechi and not whatever he had become would tug on the crazed’s leg and look up at him sadly, the child begging for the other to stop.

 

_ “Oniichan, you don’t need to hurt them anymore, please stop-“ _

 

_ “Don’t you worry, Ototuo. I’ve stopped the bad guy.” _

 

_ The child looked up sadly and pleaded to Akechi, “He’s still here, Oniichan!” _

 

_ “What do you mean, Ototuo? The Shadow is dead.” _

 

_ The little boy shook his head and pointed to Akechi’s chest, “No, he’s still in here. Isn’t he?” _

 

Akechi was unsure of these types of hallucinations. He knew that hallucinations were supposed to just disappear after a second, but they don’t really ever talk or touch you. He wondered if it was his own Persona Loki playing tricks on him. After all, Loki loves his tricks.

 

There would be times of silence in his head where he could hear Loki’s voice speak, but times like that were rare. He was perturbed by it, because the ebbing voice knew what was wrong with him.

  
  
  


_ “No dejes de descansar. En la calle caminas, quien te va a perseguir?” _

 

_ Akechi didn’t understand, so Loki changed. _

 

_ “Don’t stop resting. You walk in the street, who is going to chase you?” _

 

_ “Stop talking in lyrics.” Akechi grumbled. _

 

_ “L’Via.” Loki growled back. _

 

_ “I’m not.” Akechi denied, “I didn’t bare witness to death-“ _

 

_ “I think I’ve become one of the others.” Loki pointed out to Akechi, who rubbed his face and admitted that,  _ yeah _ , he has become one of the others. “What about saying you’re not like the others? - Everyone has chosen to help the shovels that bury me.” _

 

_ “I know I’m enabling him, but when-“ _

 

_ “You ain’t got nothing, you ain’t got nothing, you ain’t got-“ _

 

_ “SHUT UP!” Akechi shouted to the voice in his head, and he realized how insane he really was to shout into the darkness that could tear him apart- that was tearing him apart. _

 

_ “And the Owls didn’t care, - These Ides of March are they so make-belief? - Upon the anthills of the dawning of this plague, - The iconoclastic had it coming for years, - Knife me in, hobbling, - Forsaken… - Who turned it off? - Valerian Father - How tempts the Revenant? - Her ash, a serpent infancy. - ‘Don’t you ever, ever, ever, trust my mercy’.” Loki compiled the words of another and spoke in their voice to Akechi, who barely interpreted the words as they were thrown at him. _

 

**_Shido doesn’t care, do you really think he wouldn’t betray you? From the start, he deserved it - he’ll kill you if you keep waiting! Shido, this toxic father of yours, isn’t a fool. You seek revenge, you were born from him and you shall send him to where he belongs! Don’t trust him, never trust him, to keep you breathing._ **

__

_ Akechi knew this, of course. That’s the only way Loki would be able to tell him. This was Akechi’s own Shadow, a part of him buried down into his heart that he knew existed but tried to suppress. Just like the dysphoria he goes through when he isn’t accepted. The truth was that he was scared to be anything but plastic, and that damn Kurusu went about putting ideas in his head - that he didn’t have to hide his true self from him. _

__  
  
  


When he would return to reality, he felt naked. He bore himself out to the world as his true self for a time, and it always took him a minute to adjust his mask to wear in front of the world. He’d compose himself, and make the call to  _ Shido _ that the job had been done.

__

“Good work, young man. In short time, I’ll be able to repay you for all that you’ve done.”

__

The call hung up, but a few moments afterward Akechi would still have the phone pressed against his cheek, frozen. He would feel the bile rise in his throat and the discomfort at the back of his tongue while the weight in his stomach would be almost unbearable. It’s only ever after he

would leave the Metaverse that he’d really return to his ordinary self, and he’d feel detachment from the him in the other world. But at times it’d set in, and the guilt was unbearable. Times like these drove him typically to go out to eat, to distract himself with a different setting than his own apartment and escape the darkness in his mind that threatened to overcome him.

He’d store these feelings in a bottle within his gut, knowing that one day it’d burst.

He didn’t care- he decided -it was his destiny to destroy Shido. With his collapse, he’d be seen as a martyr anyways.


End file.
